Duluth Homegrown releases mixtape curated by Alan Sparhawk

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Similar to this week’s Mid West Music Fest happening down in Winona, music fans and bands from all over the state with ties to Duluth, Minnesota, will make the trek north for the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival that runs April 29-May 6.

To help introduce new ears to the offerings of the Duluth scene, the festival’s organizers have asked Low and Retribution Gospel Choir frontman Alan Sparhawk, one of the most visible musicians to come out of the area, to curate a mixtape of some of his favorite local acts. Sparhawk himself will play on Saturday, May 5, at the Rex, in addition to performing in his new project The Murder of Crows earlier that same day at Sacred Heart Music Center. The artists Sparhawk chose to include on the mix will also perform at different points throughout the week in Duluth.

The mix is heavy on folk and blues-based rock, which speaks to the leanings of the region, but also includes several more experimental electronic artists. Some of my favorite tracks include the piano-driven “Bell” from Southwire, the mellow psych of Marc Gartman’s Fever Dream, the simmering jazz vocal stylings of Hattie Peterson, and a remix of Prince Paul and the Conscious Party by Zenith City Dub.

The whole mixtape is available to download at a “pay what you want” price, and you can sample the tracks in the streaming widget below.